Hi all,
I got my new GM rear sway bar last night from gmpartsdirect.com (great price)and mocked the installation up. I was surprised to see that the surfaces that mate with the lower control arms were not "true" at all. Admittedly the ends are probably forged and I have seen the shim kits, however, from the original mock-up, it appears as though some mounting pads are going to require more shim than the other pad on the same side. Can a guy get away with shimming individual pads with washers? Thanks,

Cam

I assumed they were bowed for tension.I installed both bolts loose,then as I tightened the farthest one out slowly the arm staightened and became parallel for easy factory one piece shim placement.After tightening both down all looks well.
Unless I did it wrong...lol

Rene

When I got my bar, I was just as surpised as you guys. I did the same as Rene, and I was able to get 2 shims on one side and 1 on the other. Here is a link to this same topic that came up a few years back - http://www.chevelles.com/forum/Forum7/HTML/002946.html

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Bryan Shook
My website with lots of classic cars (http://www.geocities.com/elcamino_1972)
1972 Chevrolet El Camino Options, Codes & Pricing (http://www.geocities.com/elcamino_1972/elky-options.html)
Favorite Quote: Some people have shrinks. Some people have their garage.

I have puchase the same bar from GMpartsdirect. It hasn't come in yet I was wondering if it comes with the shims, or do I have to buy those and where to get them? I hope my bar lines up I am using SSM lift bars w/ the hole pre-drilled. Will I have additional problems with these SSMs?

You will have to either buy or make the shims. Here is a link to a post I had about a year ago for making the shims. I made mine, they turned out great - http://www.chevelles.com/forum/Forum7/HTML/003668.html

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Bryan Shook
My website with lots of classic cars (http://www.geocities.com/elcamino_1972)
1972 Chevrolet El Camino Options, Codes & Pricing (http://www.geocities.com/elcamino_1972/elky-options.html)
Favorite Quote: Some people have shrinks. Some people have their garage.

This is a post I made some time ago.

My question:
The only use I can see for the shims is to align the center of the bar with the center of the Pumpkin.

Answer
FO_FDYFO
Team Member

No, it is so that when you tighten the bolts up , you dont draw the control arms in, binding the bushings. when you hold the bar up there if there is space add shimms. it does not need to be centered.

I have an possibly unrelated response, you be the judge. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif
I had my '65 Skylark up on the rack on friday to do an alignment and saw that same rear sway bar you guys are talking about was BROKEN. I was broken in two pieces right through the rear (towards the rear of the car) bolt hole. I removed the bar and found that when I installed it about 10 years ago I had shimmed it with washers. Now, I am not saying this broke it, not at all, but man was I bummed. I did not box the control arms. I figured that I didn't beat the hell out of this car so I would just put a thick walled spacer in the arm for the bolt to go through. I think the arm twisted as one wheel went up and down and instead of the bar twisting out in the middle as it should it was trying to twist right at the bolt. Anyway, just a heads up.

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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

Thanks for all the responses guys,
This has got me thinking. I can't see the difference in a washer or two as opposed to a shim or two. On my bar the pad where the bolt goes through is the only place touching the arm anyhow. On the rearmost bolts, it could use maybe a washer per side, but on the front maybe two or even three. It seems that sucking the front in would be harder on the suspension than varying thicknesses of washers. Any thoughts??

Cam

The bar is made out of spring steel so it should be able to take some flex. Look at what a leaf spring goes through. Now fatigue may be another story. If the bolts are not tight it will increase the stress in the bar at the joint. Over time the bar will fatigue and fail. Not boxing the control arm may have allowed enough flex that the attachment bolts lost their clamp load causing the bar to fatigue.

Yeah, but don't you suppose that it is easier to distort the arm or tweak the busings than it is to straighten that bar??

cam

I was thinking about getting one of these sway bars. Can you guys list the part number so I can find it on gmparts direct?

I had my OEM bar fail last year and was NOT getting on it at all, in fact was leaving a grass parking area back onto the road and BANG! went the bar, it failed thru the left rear mounting bolt hole. Am going with the Group Buy on the BMR stuff now... After looking at it, it looks like it was a manufactured defect in the forging allowing a stress crack to form.


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'65 Maliblue 406SBC/PG TC #811
'97 HD Softtail Springer
'99 FORD Ranger Xtracab 4X4
Army Retired (Feb 02)

The part number for the sway bar is 394926. I know that www.partszoneonline.com (http://www.partszoneonline.com) (This is P&G Chevrolet in Slovan, Pa) had one in stock about 2 weeks ago. Their price is about $60.00 but you can call them up and talk to a real person and they ship UPS so it should only be about $9.00 or $10.00 to ship it. If you call them or email them Bill Sr. is the guy you want to talk to, he is the Parts Manager. Tell him Bryan Shook sent you, I live up the hill from this dealership and these guys are the best. There is a picture of the sway bar on their website if you enter the part number.

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Bryan Shook
My website with lots of classic cars (http://www.geocities.com/elcamino_1972)
1972 Chevrolet El Camino Options, Codes & Pricing (http://www.geocities.com/elcamino_1972/elky-options.html)
Favorite Quote: Some people have shrinks. Some people have their garage.

Cam Sweet, what sway bar did you get? That website only has cars that go back to 81. I went to The Chevy dealer here and their rear sway bar for 68-72 chevelles was dicontinued in like 82.

You have to enter in the part number - 394926 and click the enter button on the screen. It'll come up with a picture of the bar. If not, email them or call them on Monday morning - 1-888-870-0280 (ext-214) or email Bill at marko@pulsenet.com

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Bryan Shook
My website with lots of classic cars (http://www.geocities.com/elcamino_1972)
1972 Chevrolet El Camino Options, Codes & Pricing (http://www.geocities.com/elcamino_1972/elky-options.html)
Favorite Quote: Some people have shrinks. Some people have their garage.

wantedrodinco, that '68 to '72 Bar may be a particular diameter or something and IT has been discontinued. That doesn't mean that others that will bolt in have been discontinued. I bought the front and rear bars for my Skylark and Gran Sport from the Chevy dealer about 10 years ago (1992), they were available of course.

The bars I got for the rear were from a 72-76 Monte Carlo as I remember.

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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

I had two sway bars when I went to install one on my 64. The other looked similar but the bolt holes would not line up. I found out it fits 78-87 "A" & "G" bodys. Retails for $127